Special Needs (28 page)

“I’m just trying to keep you from getting arrested!” Rodney pushed back, without much conviction.

“I’m fine,” uttered Ryan, fighting a sob and obviously being
not
fine. By now, he was all wrapped up in the comforter like a baby bird in a nest, with just his head sticking out.

Liam swallowed, trying to tackle the chaos that was now his mind. He just wanted this fucker to pay for what he did.

Without hesitation, he grabbed Stuart’s ankles and pulled him out of the room, not caring whether he’d hit himself on the head or not.

“Let go! I didn’t go through with anything!” Stuart stuttered in choked gasps as Liam dragged him down the corridor.

“Shut that shithole of a face or I’ll rip your cock off!” He growled, pulling him towards the Dog Pound room. He was practically trembling at the thought of this pervert raping Ryan while he was smoking a damn cig in the same fucking house!

“Liam! Get your shit together! The cops will be here soon!” Rodney ran after him.

“And I don’t want this fucker to run.” He looked into Rod’s eyes. “Open your cage.”

His co-worker sighed and entered the room to open a cage with thick, black bars. It was barely large enough to house a crouching man. Liam was impressed by the way Rodney managed to keep his calm throughout the whole ordeal.

“Good idea.”

“Get in there, you fucking perv!” Liam practically kicked Stuart into the cage. The man was shaking all over, but it wasn’t enough. Rodney jumped when Liam smashed one of the batons available in this room against the bars, making Stuart cry out in fear.

“Okay... this is getting interesting.” Rod folded his arms across his chest with a raised eyebrow.

“Please, I can pay compensation or whatever you want... just call the cops off! It was a misunderstanding!” pleaded Stuart, cowering like the pathetic pig he was, but all Liam was willing to give him was another blow to the head.

“Shut up and be glad you still have your teeth!” Liam threw the baton to the floor and left without another word. He needed to see Ryan. Was he really okay? Wasn’t he hurt?

When he got back to the room, Ryan was fumbling with something under the comforter, his face like a mask of resignation, but Liam couldn’t see any tears.

“Ryan...” It was such a relief to take him in his arms again.

“You were so fucking right... happy?” Ryan shook his head, but didn’t move away from the hug.

Liam mumbled a ‘no’, pressing him even tighter against his chest. Why did it have to come to that?

“I know.” Ryan sighed. “Just saying. I was so excited that someone actually wanted me, that I overlooked every fucking red flag.”

“Did he... uh... do something other than the needle?” Liam begged every deity there was to help him calm down. His voice was shaking like some chick’s!

“No, he didn’t get to it. He got that syringe and I was like ‘what the fuck’.” There wasn’t much energy in Ryan though, as he told the story.

Clothes were scattered over the floor, just like... a prosthetic foot, lying close to the bed. It was a simple skin color, with pentagrams drawn all over it in marker pen. It hurt Liam that Ryan didn’t trust him enough to tell him the truth.

“How come I didn’t know? I’m your caretaker,” he said, gently stroking Ryan’s side.

“Didn’t know what?” The boy looked up at him.

Liam swallowed a lump in his throat. “Your foot.”

“Cause it’s horrible!” Ryan pulled the comforter over his head, likening himself to a giant maggot.

“Ryan, please...” The tightness in Liam’s chest became unbearable. He tried to uncover Ryan, seeking out his eyes. “It doesn’t matter to me, don’t be scared.”

“I know it doesn’t, but I don’t want to be seen as someone who has that... I dunno... This fucking dating was useless! What was I thinking?” He burst out with anger all of a sudden.

“Don’t say that.”

“I will! I don’t care anymore! I don’t ever wanna date anyone.” Ryan sniffed and rubbed the black eyeshadow all over his face. “He could have done anything...”

“I promised to find you the best boyfriend you could dream of.” Liam gently moved Ryan’s face up to meet his eyes. His heart was hammering inside his chest like a caged animal. “I’m going to do it.”

“I don’t want anyone! I’m such a fucked up guy! I can’t imagine anyone who’d want to deal with that.”

After a while they heard loud voices from downstairs . Liam’s vision narrowed to that lovely, innocent face, all dirty with black makeup. “That’s not true.”

“Fuck! I can’t believe he touched me with his dick. I think I’m gonna puke.” Ryan just tucked the comforter closer with one hand. And just like that, the spell was gone and Liam kissed Ryan’s cheek instead of those soft, fleshy lips. He couldn’t traumatize him now. That wouldn’t be right.

”You know, if you need to, you may puke all over me. That would be kinda hot,” he tried to make him laugh, and it worked. Beneath all the hurt, a little smile bloomed on Ryan’s face.

“Yeah? You into that?” He rubbed his eyes again.

“Only as long as it’s your barf. I’m Ryanosexual, you know.” Liam looked at him innocently.

“Idiot.” Ryan just shook his head. They could already hear two unknown male voices become louder, but they both chose to ignore it. “You’re gonna get very excited then, because there’s no way in hell I can put a pair of pants on by myself.”

Liam was certain he would be hyperventilating soon.

Chapter 14

Liam pursed his lips absent-mindedly, trying to distance himself from his fellow felons. There was a passed out twenty-something in his cell, but he was laying on the ground, leaving the bunk to Liam. A drunk, and possibly crazy, old man was babbling something on the other end of the room, making some of the other jailbirds lose their temper. Two young men charged for possessing illegal substances kept screaming at the old nutjob, but it was no use. It was as if he didn’t even register their existence, closed in his own Lalaland.

Liam didn’t get why he was even here. Stuart tried to rape a disabled guy. How come the cops considered
his
reaction disproportional? He was being aggressive and uncooperative, they said. It wasn’t like he broke Stuart’s arms... which he would gladly do if it wouldn't mean being separated from Ryan for longer. The poor guy was so scared, the way he cried his name for help went through Liam’s head over and over. Ryan shouldn’t be alone now. Sure, since Fay was having a night out with some friends, he was with Rodney, but it wasn’t right. After all, it was him, not Rod, whom Ryan called when things got bad.

Sitting in the cell for a few hours now, got Liam reminiscing about something else too. Back at home, Ryan didn’t want to even discuss taking off the braces, so Liam helped him pull on a pair of sweatpants over them. As professional as Liam tried to be, it was hard not to look at the badly scarred legs. They made him cringe, but not with disgust. He could only imagine how much it must had hurt Ryan to lose the ability to walk, the foot, the flawless skin that must had been there before the accident. No wonder he was self-conscious about it.

Liam imagined how lovely Ryan's skin must have been, as he got to see his buttocks for the first time. The scarring only got intense on the thighs, the butt was pale and smooth like a baby’s. Ryan’s hips were boyish and angular, but the muscle itself, round and plump like a peach, as if he didn’t spend all day in the chair.

He had to ask Ryan about going to the gym together, though it made him think of all the men Ryan could hook up with there and decided he didn’t want to sabotage his chances again.

But God, that ass was a piece of art! He wouldn’t dare to touch it, but the perfect curve looked like it begged for it, and Liam could only imagine how satisfying it would be to bury himself in that tight heat, holding Ryan close, lost in his soft lips.

“Yo! Blank-face!” Someone waved in front of his eyes and he snapped out of the fantasy, noticing one of the young men who were shouting at the old crazy minutes earlier. He must have been bored if he was looking for a chat. “What are you in for?”

How tiresome.

“I overdid self-defense,” Liam said, not bothering to ask back. He knew what they were in for anyway after they’d bragged about it earlier.

“That your line of defense?” The other guy put his leg through the bars and rested the foot on the edge of Liam’s bunk.

Liam snorted. “I don’t need one.”

“Who did ya beat up then?”

In the background, the old man started singing again. It looked like this night would not end soon.

“No one,” Liam answered with a deepening frown. Because that was all Stuart was to him.

One of the men chuckled, but before he could continue the conversation, the door in the corridor opened and Liam felt his body hair stand up when he recognized the deep, unmanageable sobs he heard from there as Ryan's. Just like that, he was on his feet, fingers curling around the bars that separated them from each other.

“Liam, I was so afraid, I can’t take it, being on my own now!” Ryan cried, stretching out his hand, as the cop on duty pushed his wheelchair towards Liam’s cell. He was wrapped up in the zombie blanket he got from Liam and his numb arm was hidden within its folds.

One of Liam’s cell-mates got up and approached the bars with eyes wide open. “What is that?” he muttered.

Liam ignored him, stretching his hand out to touch Ryan’s. It was cold. “How long have you been here?” he asked, eyes searching the boyish face in front of him.

Liam helped Ryan wash off the remains of makeup, before they came to the police station, so he looked a lot younger than usual, and the piercings didn't make him look even a tad aggressive, with the reddened, swollen eyes not helping either. “Three hours.”

“Okay, okay.” The cop sighed, taking out the keys to the cell. “We have decided the circumstances are indeed special, so we’re letting you go early, Novitzky.”

Liam nodded and let go of Ryan to allow the officer to open the cell. Getting out of here and taking care of Ryan were the only things he cared about at this point. Even his vision seemed more focused now, though he was afraid Ryan was in a much worse state than he had expected.

He now sniffed and lowered his gaze, trying to pull the blanket to wrap himself tighter.

“Is that a guy or a girl?” Liam heard from behind.

“Doesn’t matter, he’s still better looking than your girlfriend,” snarled Liam, taking hold of the wheelchair handles and turning for the exit. This wasn’t the place to talk.

The cop closed the cell without any further words and followed them.

“I told them I need my caretaker. Especially with the numb arm... This is horrible!” Ryan sobbed, looking up at Liam as they went down the corridor of the police station.

Liam cringed, gripping the handles tighter. “Did you see a doctor?”

“Yes, they confirmed it’s going to pass in a few hours.” Ryan seemed to calm down with every second they were together. It was like molten honey to Liam’s heart.

“Mr. Novitzky, Mr. Richards,” they heard from a policeman to the side. “Please come with me. There are delicate matters I would like to discuss about the offender.”

Liam closed his eyes for a moment, trying to compose himself. He wanted out. He wanted to get out and talk to Ryan so bad it hurt, but he still moved towards the desk where the officer led them.

“That is of course, if you are fine with Mr. Novitzky hearing all the details?” The policeman looked down at Ryan, but he just nodded, so they proceeded to a separate room.

After a brief introduction, the policeman sat in his chair and logged on to the computer on the desk.

“Aren’t you cold?” Liam gently stroked the side of Ryan’s arm. He let his weight drop to a creaking plastic chair beside him.

“No, I’ve got my blanket.” He smiled at Liam, but the cop’s face was serious enough to kill the mood.

“Mr. Barley broke down as soon as we brought him to the station after being treated at the hospital. He told us... well, many disturbing things.” The policeman furrowed his grey eyebrows.

“Okay, I’m listening.” Ryan swallowed, slouching in his chair.

Liam chewed his teeth into his lip, body tensing in preparation of what he was about to hear. He didn’t want Ryan to listen to this.

“The man works as a nurse at a rehabilitation center in Illinois and he had told us he came all the way to California, when you told him on the Internet, you were looking for,” he cleared his throat, “a boyfriend? Is that right?”

Liam blinked, his eyes shooting up at the cop. The fucker told them he worked in IT!

Ryan straightened up in his chair. “I... no. I might have said that, but it was not an invitation. And I do not post any personal details on there.”

“On where?” Liam swallowed, a queasy feeling forming in his stomach. What was going on here? Didn’t Stuart accidentally meet them at the club?

“What a creep,” muttered Ryan.

“He told us he wanted to surprise you and that he thought this was what you wanted, judging by your, uhm, website?”